The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22
THE GOLD FEVER.
A TALK WITH A CALIFORNIA;
ARGONAUT. sat'
The First Piece Of Gold Found
Now Kept at the National Mu-
seum-Early Scenes in
the Gold Fields.

The original cause of the great Cali
fornia gold fever-the first fever germ
is at the National Museum. It is secure
ly sealed in little glass bottle, and there
IS no longer any danger of contagion. It
is a little dattened piece of gold about
the size of gold dollar. It is the piece
found by Marshall, while digging mill.
race the year before the fever set in. It
was sent direct to the Smithsonian in
August, 1S4s. The following is q copy
of the letter that accompanies it:
SAN FRANCISCO, August %, 1s4s.
This paper contains the first piece Of gold
ever discovered in the northern part of Up
per California. 1t was found ia February,
1848, by James w. Marshall, in the race Of
Captain A. Suffers sawmill, about forty
five miles from Suffers Fork, on the south
branch Of the American Fork. It was beaten
out with hammerby Mr.. Marshall to test
its malleability. 1t is presented to the Ma
j. L. FOLSOM.
]. L. Folsom was a captain in the
United States service. There are many
pieces of gold in California claimed to be
the first found, but none of them have
the facts in favor of their claim. The
discovery of this piece of gold by Marshall
led to the search of more, and it was
found. 1t was the seed that up to 1880
had produced $1,000, 900, 900 in gold.
Prior to this discovery, Indians and q few
missionary priests had been collecting
some gold in other parts of the State, but
this was the very first piece found in the
gold belt, and it led to the great rush to
California in 40. rssE
DR.. R. NJ. Dawes, the dentist of West
Washington, was one of the forty-niners
who started out from Washington. He
was talking over the matter with Star
reporter for little while last evening.
'A party of u.s." he said, ''took sail
ing vessel at Baltimore in March, and we
were seven months and fourteen days
making the trip to San Francisco. There
were my brother and ex-senator Sargent,
then local reporter in Washington, one
or two other Washington boys and my
self, and there were quite number of
others from Baltimore to make up the
party. That was the way Sargent first
went to the State he afterward repre-
sented in the Senate. We had apretty
hard voyage. The Captain of theyessel
treated us so badly that when we got to
Rio de Janeiro we complained to the
Consul and had him removed. This
caused delay of fourteen days. Then
at Valparaiso we had to unload steam
engine and other cargo, which caused a
delay of twenty days more. 1t was a
very weary voyage before we got to San
Francisco. Sargent did not 60 all the
way with us. He got off at Valparaiso,
and from there sailed to San Francisco in
another vessel. I remember that he
studied Spanish all the way from Balti-
more to Rio de Janeiro.
"When we arrived at San Francisco
several of our party who were carpenters
stopped there. They got SIG day for
working at their trade there, and thought
it better than taking the chances in the
mines. There were six in my party who
went into prospecting. Every thing was
fever and excitement there then. All
sorts Of sensational reports of big finds
were circulated, but there was not as
much outlawry as many people suppose.
In San Francisco there was considerable
gambling. It was not much of -a-eity,
then. All the buildings were frame, and
the gambllng-houses were like the frame
barracks they put up for soldiers. The
gaming-rooms were in front and the bar
in the rear. Gamblers would pay $50
night for each table. They never counted
the money, but just stacked it up on the
table, and measured it in that way. The
gamblers were the only men who wore
white shirts.
"There were no courts. If man COM
mitted an offense in the diggings he was
tried by twelve men selected for the oc-
casion, and their decisions were prompt
and just. For that reason there were few
crimes committed. Our gold was left in
camp without any one to guard it and it
was never stolen. I would sometimes
leave days digg1ngs in pan out in the
sun to dry. No one ever disturbed it.
For serious crimes the jury of twelve
would hang man; for petty larceny
they would horse-whip him and give him
twenty-four hours to get out of camp. If
man sunk pit and threw pick or
shovel in it he could 60 on prospecting,
and if he returned any time within ten
days he would find his claim to the dig
gings respected.
"When our party landed" he contin-
ued, "we went to Sacramento, where we
got three yoke of oxen and wagon that
had come overland, and started for the
dieeings, we'll stocked with provisions.
We went first to South Fork, then to
North Fork or Feather River. There was
so much mud thatw had to abandon our
cattle and wagon and carry our packs on
our backs. We did pretty well, but I
was sick and had to keep out of the
trenches and give up mining fora while.
When we dissolved partnership at North
Fork a sack of -four fell to my share and
sold it for 5000. I then bought q boat
and gun and shot quail and jack rabbits
and sold them in San Francisco. Quail
brought 81 and IS per dozen dead, and
$12 alive; and jack rabbits 81 and 81
each. The second time went back to
San Francisco the cholera was raging
there. Men were dropping dead like
sheep.
81 went to the diggings again, and
we came across big rock near Middle
Fork standing high out of the water,
which whirled in swift eddy around it.
We knew if there was any gold in that
locality it would be right in this eddy.
So we filled bags with sand and made a
dam to turn the water aside so that we
could get at it. The very first dip of my
pan brought up $a1S worth of gold;